Still I Fly
by TheNightFury
Summary: The five days spent waiting for Dusty to finally wake up where the longest five days in Blades life.


**A/N**

**I highly recommend not reading this if you haven't seen Planes Fire and Rescue. I absolutely loved Planes Fire and Rescue, but after seeing it I wonder what everyone was up to during those 5 days so I decided to write this. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PLANES FIRE AND RESCUE! I hope you enjoy this and feel free to mail me about your thoughts on the movie. **

Blade should have been used to watching good planes go down, but seeing Dusty go down after the rescue was finished, _after _they should have been safe was shocking. Dusty had seemed just fine seconds before his engine failed. A small naïve part of him believed that once everyone was rescued and they were heading away from the fire everyone would be ok, but he was wrong.

He had been so proud of what Dusty had finally accomplished that he didn't even stop to think about the consequences of his actions. All he could see was Dusty safely flying away before his engine splutter and smoke poured out from his engine as he plummeted to the ground. Blade glanced over at Windlifter as he carried Dusty back to base. It did not look good for the crop duster. All they could hope was that Maru could put him back together again better than new. The group watched solemnly as Windlifter lowered Dusty to the ground. They should have been celebrating; against all odds they beat the fire with no civilian casualties. How could they celebrate when their friend crashed and possibly would never fly again?

"You can fix him can't you?" Dipper frantically asked Maru who was carefully inspecting Dusty.

"I'll do what I can," was all Maru would say. No one spoke as Maru slowly worked, digging out whatever he could find to reuse to put Dusty back together, the crop-duster never stirring as he worked. Blade hated seeing any member of his team go down, and Dusty was no exception, Dusty was a member of this team, and his team was his family. That's when Blade remembered, Dusty had friends back home who had no idea what happened to Dusty. Blade hated delivering bad news to loved ones; he knew how painful it was to hear a friend was gone. At the same time though he knew it would be wrong not to tell them and leave them wondering what was happening. So reluctantly Blade left the group to radio Dusty's hometown.

"Where are you going?" Dynamite asked when she noticed Blade leaving.

"Dusty's friends deserve to know what's going on," was all Blade would say.

Though Blade didn't know too much about Dusty's life in Propwash Junction he knew Dusty was friends with Mayday and that was a good start.

"Blade Ranger to Mayday do you copy?" After a minute Mayday answered saying,

"How are you doing Blade? It's so good to hear from you. How is Dusty doing?"

"Actually I wanted to talk to you about Dusty… it might be better if his friends where all here for this…" Sensing something was wrong Mayday reluctantly agreed,

"Ok…" Though Blade knew it was only a few minutes, the wait for Mayday to return felt like hours. Blade didn't know any of Dusty's other friends. In all honesty Blade wasn't too concerned with how they would react to the news, he was mostly worried about breaking the news to Mayday. When he first called to tell Blade about Dusty he could hear the pride in Maydays voice as he spoke about the courageous crop duster who wanted to save their town and become a fire fighter. He went on about how he was giving up everything to help Mayday and the town. Blade just knew how proud Mayday was of Dusty despite his limitations. Blade wasn't sure what he expected when he met this Dusty, but the small plane that recklessly flew through the burn zone was not what Blade expected. Despite Blades reservations about the kid, Blade trusted Maydays judgment so he reluctantly decided to give him a chance.

As he trained Dusty and saw how reluctant he was to give it all he had, Blade wondered if he and Mayday meet two different Dusty's. Mayday spoke of a brave plane that was willing to do anything to get the job done, but this plane refused to listen to most orders that Blade gave and didn't seem all that focused. All of that changed though when he saw Dusty fearlessly risk his life to save the two RV's that he barely even knew. He finally saw the hero that Mayday had seen all along.

"This is Skipper…" A worried voice began startling Blade out of his thoughts.

"And I'm Chug and this is Dottie and Sparky!" Chug excitedly added, not aware of what was happening.

"What's the news Blade?" Mayday asked fear laced through his words.

Blade could play the crash off as nothing to worry about, but he knew that was wrong. So Blade reluctantly began, "As you've probably heard, we've had quite a few fires up here. Though at first we had it under control unfavorable conditions caused the fire to spread out of control forcing us to evacuate the park. A couple of RV's where stranded on the far side of the park though and Dusty being the fastest plane offered to go and help them. I soon joined him and we were able to save them but in order to save them Dusty had to push his engine into the red and as we were heading back to base-"

"His gear box!" Dottie gasped.

"Yes… it failed and he crashed…" Blade sighed.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Chug asked.

"We'll do our best," Blade assured.

"How could you force him to push his engine so hard?" Dottie demanded, rage evident in her voice.

"He knew the risks when he went in. If you knew how dangerous it was why did you let him go off with a bad gear box?" Blade snapped, angry that they had the audacity to chastise him about Dusty's safety when it seemed like they didn't care at all.

"They don't make it anymore!" Dottie shouted, "They don't make most of his parts anymore they've been discontinued! We have searched all over the country for it but haven't found anything!" Dotties explosion made Blade pause unsure of what he could say. A small part of Blade wasn't surprised that Dusty would do something so risky to help a friend, it's just who he was. But that didn't change the situation they were now in.

"Look, I promise we will do everything we can to get Dusty back in the air. We'll keep you posted." With that Blade ended the call and left the room.

* * *

After the conversation with Skipper Blade heard Patch saying,

"The superintendent and secretary of interior are arriving." Making Blade roll his eyes and everyone, including Maru pull out onto the runway. The last person Blade wanted to deal with was Cad. Instead of Cad though the secretary arrived with Jammer along with Pulaski.

"Good morning secretary, where's the Superintendent?" Blade asked making the secretary grin,

"Why you're looking at him!"

"What happened to Cad?" Dynamite asked rolling up next to them.

"He's been fired," the secretary explained.

"About time someone grew a brain," Maru grumbled making Blade glare at him, Maru though just grinned innocently at him.

"Along with endangering the lives of all the tourists by not telling them about the fire," Pulaski began, "we found out that he diverted all the water to his lodge du-"

"He did what?" Maru shouted causing uproar among the other firefighters.

"Do you know what he did by doing that?" Blade growled, rage filling him. Because of his actions Dusty had to go off on his own with an empty tank to rescue those campers. Because of Cad Dusty had to push his engine to hard causing him to crash. If it wasn't for Cad and his stupid lodge…

"He took water from the main line to protect his lodge further endangering the tourists so I replaced him with Jammer," the secretary explained, causing the others to quiet. "Now I had a few campers asking about a Dusty, apparently he saved their lives and they wanted to thank him. May I speak with him?" The atmosphere became very somber at his words. None of the others seemed willing to tell them so Blade explained,

"While rescuing those campers… Dusty crashed and… he's not in very good shape right now."

"Oh my!" Jammer exclaimed, clearly upset by the news. Silently Blade led them over to the hanger where Dipper was still waiting outside, not taking her eyes off of Dusty.

"If Cad hadn't of taken the water Dusty wouldn't have crashed!" Maru snapped at them as he started working on Dusty's engine again.

"All that matters is that Cad is locked up a-" Blade began but was reluctantly cut off by the secretary,

"Well… problem is no civilians where hurt so… Cad will not be going to jail…"

"What?" Blade growled followed by more shouting by the others.

"He nearly got everyone in the park killed!"

"NOT TO MENTION DUSTY!"

"He's not dead though…"

"He might not m-"

"He _will_ be ok!"

"Will he fly though?"

"Cad can't get away with this!"

"_Enough_!" Windlifter shouted causing everyone to freeze.

"Thank you," The secretary thanked. "Unfortunately since Dusty is in training… its seen as a work related accident so Cad will not be punished even if…"

"That idiot nearly got one of my team members killed and he's let off the hook?" Blade growled, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"He may not be going to jail, but he will be punished, that much I can assure you," the secretary assured them.

"Will it involve an 'accident'?" Maru asked a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"No," Jammer replied. "But he will wish he had to comforts of a jail cell. That much I can assure." That wasn't good enough that. If Cad was free he could endanger more lives. That creature needed to be put in jail, the key thrown out and left to rot.

* * *

The next day as Blade stopped by Maru's to see how work on Dusty was going. To Blade though it seemed like Maru hadn't made any progress at all. His body was still badly crumpled from the crash and his scoops and wings were not properly attached. Blade looked over at Dipper who looked like she hadn't slept all night.

"Did you stay here all night?" Blade asked, slightly concerned about Dipper.

"I can't leave him alone like this!" Dipper exclaimed making Blade smirk slightly. Dusty was going to have a hard time shaking her off once he woke up.

"Did he ever wake up?" Blade asked Maru who still seemed to be working on the kid's engine.

"Nope, he was out cold all night. I've got a lot left to do though," Maru informed Blade.

"From the sound of it I'm pretty sure he's used to being patched up," Blade commented.

"I don't get how he could fly so fast with this engine!" Maru exclaimed. "Pretty impressive refurbishing."

"Better than new?" Blade asked, smirking.

"No," Maru deadpanned.

"Will he be ok?" Blade asked, not sure if Maru had really fixed anything yet.

"He'll be ok… just a question of if he'll be racing again… or flying…" Maru admitted. "His gear box is ruined, there is no way I can salvage it. The only thing I can think of is to build him one but I've never done anything like that before."

"Just do the best you can," Blade told him before heading out to check on things. He needed to make sure the fires where still under control and check in again with Ca-… Jammer.

"Hopefully there are no fires while Dusty is out…" Avalanche was saying.

"We've handled things just fine without Dusty," Blade scolded but Dynamite quickly added,

"Do you really think Dipper would leave Dusty's side even if the park was going to burn down?"

"Yea," Drip laughed, "I bet she'd stay even if she would die with him."

Blackout continued in a high pitched voice, "No I cannot leave my love! Let me die with him!" Before bursting into laughter, Blade though was not laughing.

"Please don't joke about the park burning down," Blade snapped, glaring at the two.

"Too soon?" Blackout nervously asked.

"I'd rather not tempt fate," Blade sighed. Another fire was the last thing they needed and frankly Blade was exhausted from just _thinking_about another fire.

Cabbie rolled over to them and said, "Blade someone is trying to reach you from a town called Propwash Junction…"

"Isn't that Dusty's hometown?" Dynamite asked.

I'll talk to them," Blade grumbled, not looking forward to getting yelled at by Dottie again. When he answered though it seemed like only Skipper was there.

"Any news on Dusty?" Skipper asked.

"I told you we'd contact you with any new information," Blade groaned.

"We are his friends and we are very concerned about him. Dottie is insisting on flying out herself to check on his repairs."

"He hasn't woken up yet. We just need a time to fix the damage," Blade assured.

"Even if your mechanic can fix the body damage, his gear box…" Skipper began.

"Look our mechanic is the best there is, if anyone can fix Dusty's gearbox it's him," Blade snapped.

"Do you realize how old and complex his gearbox is?" Skipped asked incredulously, "Our best mechanic can't build one an-"

"Your mechanic doesn't have to repurpose everything they use now does she?" Blade sharply asked. "If it can be done we will figure out how to do it."

* * *

The next morning Blade was greeted by a still unconscious Dusty and Maru who appeared to be no longer working on Dusty's engine and had moved on to working on his body.

"It looks like you've made some good progress," Blade complimented, "Has he woken up?"

"No," Maru tiredly sighed. "I still don't know what I'm going to do about his gear box. It's… extremely complex…"

"You have to figure it out!" Dipper cried hysterically, "If you don't he'll never fly!"

"Dipper I really think you need some sleep…" Blade tried to reason but Dipper wouldn't listen.

"I won't leave him!" She snapped making Blade realize that nothing would be able to tear Dipper away from Dusty until he was better. Reluctantly Blade decided to go check and see if Skipper called again and found he was patiently waiting to speak to him.

"This is Blade," Blade tiredly greeted.

"Is he any better?" Skipper asked.

"He still hasn't woken up," Blade replied.

"You're telling me he's been out for three days?" Skipper asked incredulously. "How bad was this crash?"

"The crash wasn't the problem," Blade explained. "His engine is in really bad shape."

"Look I know visitors technically still aren't allowed in the park but… is it at all possible for us to go out and see him?" Skipper asked a note of desperation in his voice. As much as Blade understood his need to see Dusty, Blade knew the superintendent would not allow any visitors into the park.

"Look, I am very sorry but with everything's that's happened even I can't get anyone into the park right now," Blade explained causing Skipper to sigh,

"I understand… just… please keep us posted." Before ending the call.

* * *

As Blade passed by Maru's hanger he found Windlifter, Cabbie, and the smokejumpers keeping Dipper company. The group was eerily silent as they watched Maru work. Avalanche was even silent as the mechanic worked, too worried about Dusty to goof around. Normally, Maru would shut to doors to keep people from watching, but for once he didn't stop them.

As he was rolling over to them, Blade noticed dark clouds forming in the sky. Noticing Blade looking up, Dynamite looked up as well and groaned,

"Great, if it rains we'll have mudslides to deal with as well." Oddly enough after so much fire rain would cause even more problems for them. It was moments like this that made Blade wish he could stop everything so he could focus on one problem at a time.

"Better not rain…" Maru grumbled as he hammered out one of Dusty's scoops.

"There's nothing we can do but wait and see what happens," Blade informed them causing silence to fall over the group once more. Maru continued hammering out the sccop, angrily muttering something unintelligible as he did so, getting angrier as he continued. Once he finished hammering out the first scoop Maru moved onto the second one, his furious hammering echoing through the area. As Maru went to attached the newly repaired scoops Cabbie asked,

"So what did Skipper want?" making everyone, including Maru, turn to Blade expectantly.

"He and his friends were concerned about Dusty and wanted to come out to see him and his mechanic wanted to check up on the repa-"

"What do they not think I can put him back together?" Maru snapped throwing down the scoop he'd been carrying.

"That's not it Maru," Blade argued, "They're understandably concerned about their friend. He's been out for three days now."

"He's got a lot of damage ok! These things take time!" Maru muttered looking hurt.

"I know that," Blade assured. "But they don't know how bad the damage is. I understand their concern." Maru sighed dejectedly, unable to argue any further before carefully picking up the scoops to continue his work. "Either way they can't come out here yet, the superintendent won't allow any visitors until he's sure the park is safe again."

"Glade to see someone who knows what they're doing is finally in charge," Maru grumbled before slipping on his mask making Blade smirk. They had all wished for Jammer to be named superintendent instead of Cad, but since Cad had been helping the park make so much money no one saw any reason to replace him until now.

"Did you hear? Jammer is returning the entire budget that Cad stole back to us!" Pinecone informed them causing the others to cheer before Maru angrily shushed them.

"Hey geniuses I'm trying to work here! If you guys want to have a party take it somewhere else!"

"Go and leave Maru to his work!" Dipper snapped, glaring at the Smokejumpers.

"Let's leave Dipper to her stalking," Drip quietly mumbled causing the other smokejumpers to start chuckling at Dippers expense. Dipper though was to focus on Dusty to hear them.

* * *

The next morning Blade once again stopped by Maru's to check on Dusty, secretly hoping he'd find the Crop Duster awake. Instead he found a still unconscious Dusty with Maru intently working on something on the table. Dusty appeared to be mostly fixed though which was a small relief.

"He's still out?" Blade asked with growing concern which seemed to only anger Maru.

"Look Blade I get your concerned about him but he just needs time ok?" Maru snapped glaring at Blade.

"I know…I'm just…worried…" Blade sighed unsure of what else he could say. Grunting Maru turned back to the strange thing he had been working on before Blade had come. Blade carefully examined the device Maru was working on in confusion. As far as Blade knew nothing around the base needed repairs and it looked like Dusty was fixed. "What's that you're working on?" Blade finally asked when he couldn't figure out what the device was supposed to be.

"I'm building Dusty a gearbox," Maru explained not taking his eyes off his work.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just repair his old one?" Blade asked slightly confused. Though Blade was no mechanic he did know that gearboxes where extremely complex.

"Dusty's mechanic did get one thing right; his gear box can't be fixed. It has to be replaced and I can't even find anything on how his was made, much less one that's on the market."

"Why would they do that?" Blade grumbled.

"Do what?" Maru asked remaining focused on his work.

"Stop producing our parts," Blade grumbled.

"You of all people should know why," Maru laughed. "These big companies only care about the bottom line, even if it hurts a lot of people in the process." Maru added looking over at Dusty mournfully. None of this would have happened if Dusty's gearbox had still been produced.

"It's still not right," Blade growled.

"I think the kids rubbing off on you. In case you've forgotten life isn't fair," Maru scolded. "Regardless, I have to build this gearbox with only Dusty's busted old one to refer to."

"Can you do it?" Blade asked, ignoring Maru's jab at him. Of course he knew how unfair life could be, that didn't mean he had to _like_ it.

"If there's a way to do it, I'll figure it out."

* * *

Blade had hoped Dusty would be fixed by now, but it seemed the damage was far worse than they initially thought.

"This is Blade," Blade said into the mic, wishing he didn't have to tell them more bad news.

"Please tell me you have good news," Skipper pleaded. Somehow Blade knew this was not normal for Skipper to plead.

"I wish I did," Blade admitted.

"He's still out?" Skipper asked sounding defeated.

"Maru is working on building a gear box for Dusty," Blade supplied, wanting to give the old plane some semblance of good news

The news only seemed to make Skipper even more upset though, "I don't want to give anyone false hope… especially Dusty. I don't know if I can take telling him that he will never race _again_…" Skipper informed him, making Blade think this wasn't the first time they thought they could fix Dusty's gearbox before falling short. Blade knew Maru could do this, he had to.

"Dusty will fly again, I know it." Blade mumbled before disconnecting the call.

* * *

On the fifth morning before Blade even had a chance to check up on Dusty, Maru was shouting through the compound that Dusty was awake. When Blade finally reached them Maru was telling Dusty about the repairs that had been done while he was out. Soon everyone was their greeting Dusty who was quickly looking overwhelmed. Blade could hardly believe he was seeing the kid awake after five days of nothing. When Maru told Dusty about his gearbox, Blade didn't think he'd ever seen Dusty happier. There was a spark in his eyes that he'd never seen before.

"It's good to have you back Dusty," Blade said cutting the others off.

"It's good to be back," Dusty replied. Grinning sheepishly Dusty added, "Can I…umm… I was wondering if I could go out for a flight. I want to test out my better than new gear box." Dusty informed them pointedly looked over at Maru who grinned at the comment.

"Well if you're feeling up to it I don't see why not," Blade assured making Dusty grin.

"Can I come with!" Dipper excitedly asked to which Dusty replied,

"Only if you can keep up." With that Dusty shot off into the sky, flying faster than he had during any of his training.

"Look at him go!" Dynamite exclaimed.

"He's even faster in person!" Dipper swooned, preferring to stay on the ground and watch Dusty rather than try and keep up with the racer.

"He sure is…" Blade agreed. Mayday was right, Dusty was an amazing flier. How had he not seen that before? Dusty expertly weaved through the trees, flying much lower to the ground than Blade was comfortable with, but Dusty seemed just fine there. Blade was almost disappointed that Dusty had come with a bad gear box, if he trained like he was flying now he would have been certified a long time ago. Thinking of Mayday reminded Blade that Skipper and his friends where anxiously waiting for news on Dusty. Surprised he hadn't called yet, Blade radioed them instead.

"Piston Peek to Skipper, do you copy?"

"I copy," Skipper quickly answered. "Any news?"

"Sorry to say you'll have to deal with a new firefighter in a few days," Blade told them, barely able to contain the joy in his voice. Dusty was alive, Dusty was _flying_.

"Are you saying Dusty is certified?" Skipper asked.

"He woke up this morning. I'd say he deserves to be certified though," Blade added, chuckling at the unintelligible screaming that filled the other end of the line.

"Hold it!" Skipped shouted causing the other end to get quiet, "What about his gear box?"

"Our mechanic built him one from scratch, better than new," Blade informed them.

"How… that's amazing!" Dottie exclaimed in awe making Blade smile. To Blade it seemed like she didn't hate them anymore for what happened.

"Can we talk to him?" Chug asked excitedly.

"When he finally comes back down I'll tell him to call," Blade assured.

"Back down?" Dottie asked.

"Dusty insisted on a test run right when he heard the news," Blade explained.

"How long will he be out?" Skipper politely asked.

"He didn't say. He'll have to come down though when he runs out of gas. Don't worry he didn't have a full tank so it should only be a couple of hours."

"Only a couple…" Dottie grumbled.

"That's fine," Skipper assured. "We'll wait a little longer." As far as Blade was concerned, all that mattered was that Dusty was ok.

**End Notes**

**You have no idea how many times I rewrote the ending… anyways I hope you guys liked it! If so I'm working on something similar but from Skippers point of view if anyone is interested in reading that.**


End file.
